The
banjo pictured above is a PB-3 with a ball-bearing tone ring and dates from 1925, the
first year of Mastertone production. It conforms to standard catalog specifications
for the style 3 of the time with maple neck and resonator,
single white binding on the fingerboard and and back edge of the resonator, two-piece
flange, nickel plating, Presto tailpiece, fiddle-shaped peghead, diamonds and squares inlay, and Brazilian rosewood
fingerboard.

Gibson Mastertones from 1925 are
readily indentifiable by two features unique to that year: The ball-bearing tone
ring has holes on the outside and the Mastertone logo appears on the peghead rather than the fingerboard.